The Inside Story of Israeli Rule in East Jerusalem

SEPARATE AND UNEQUAL The Inside Story of Israeli Rule in East Jerusalem SEPARATE AND UNEQUAL AMIR CHESHIN BILL HUTMAN AVI MELAMED Harvard University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England 1999 Copyright © 1999 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cheshin, Amir. Separate and unequal : the inside story of Israeli rule in East Jerusalem / Amir Cheshin, Bill Hutman, Avi Melamed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-674-80136-9 1. Palestinian Arabs—Government policy—Jerusalem. 2. Jerusalem— Politics and government. I. Hutman, Bill. II. Melamed, Avi. III. Title. DS109.94.C49 1999 323.1Ј192740569442—dc21 98-53991 To Mina, Hanit, and Shahar Contents Prologue 1 1 The Vision and the Reality 5 2 Mr. Jerusalem 12 3 When Giants Sleep 29 4 A Question of Trust 67 5 Mr. Arafat, Can You Lend Me a Hand? 91 6 The Eagle Has Landed 101 7 The Forgotten Ones 124 8 Security Breach 158 9 Damage Control 187 10 A First Friendship 198 11 No Judenrein in Jerusalem 211 12 A Path to Peace Not Taken 225 Epilogue 250 Notes 253 Maps 263 Index 267 SEPARATE AND UNEQUAL The Inside Story of Israeli Rule in East Jerusalem Prologue Prologue Prologue Why another book about Jerusalem and why now? The question is indeed that simple and poignant, as is the answer. Reams have been written about Jerusalem since it was reunited in 1967. But we believe we are justified in saying that what has been written has not really arrived at the root of the central issue: the failure of Israeli rule in the city. Today, more than three decades after Israel first took control of all Jerusalem, and at a time when the conflict over the city’s future appears to be reaching a climax, it has never been more important to understand Israeli policy toward the city. This was not an easy book to write. Perhaps that is why others in our position—with a behind-the-scenes view of the making of Israeli policy toward east Jerusalem—have preferred to remain silent on the subject. We are Jerusalemites and Jews, and we are deeply connected with the city. We also had a say in forming Israeli policy toward east Jerusalem, which makes us anything but innocent observers. Amir Cheshin was former Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek’s adviser on Arab affairs from 1984 until 1993 and then served one year under Kollek’s successor, Ehud Olmert. The post put him at the center of Israeli policy-making on east Jerusalem during his tenure. Bill Hutman was a senior reporter with The Jerusalem Post. From 1992 through 1996 he covered the Jerusalem beat for the newspaper. Avi Melamed served as deputy adviser on Arab affairs from 1991 until 1994 and as adviser from 1994 until 1996. The three of us literally lived many of the events described, in some instances as observers, in others as participants. 2 Prologue This book has been rumbling in our hearts and minds for years, each of us in our place. We watched with concern as the fragile quiet in Jerusalem was broken again and again. The dreams and images of a united Jerusalem, where different peoples and religions could all make their homes, which guided us and many like us were slowly be- ing destroyed. We talked about the situation with friends and col- leagues. We used our professional positions to try to influence things to take a turn for the better, but they only got worse. Ironically, it was a glimmer of hope—the signing of a Declaration of Principles between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization in Sep- tember 1993—which prompted us to begin to make this book a reality. We reasoned that at such a historic juncture, not only Israelis and Palestinians but all people interested in the fate of Jerusalem would want to know more about this conflict-torn city. Much of the information contained in this book comes from our first-hand experience. In addition, we have drawn on an extensive archive relating to Israeli policy in Jerusalem since 1967, which we compiled through our work and from various Israeli sources. In- cluded are the minutes of meetings among the most senior Israeli leaders and officials responsible for setting policy in the city; corre- spondence among these individuals, and in some cases between them and various non-Israelis; and numerous other documents detailing Israel’s decision-making process with regard to Jerusalem. Where necessary, we spoke directly with the Israelis, Palestinians, and others involved. Specific references to these materials and interviews can be found in the Notes. While Separate and Unequal begins in 1967 with the aftermath of the Six Day War, our focus is on the past fifteen years—from the rumblings of Palestinian unrest in Jerusalem in the early 1980s, to the intifada, or uprising, that hit the city soon after it broke out in Gaza in December 1987, and finally to the showdown over Jerusa- lem’s future that began after the signing of the Declaration of Princi- ples in 1993. That agreement specifically called for the Palestinians and Israelis to sit down and talk together about the future of the city so dear to them both. The deadline for those talks to begin—tentatively May 1999—is Prologue 3 fast approaching. Thus, some may accuse us of hanging out Israel’s dirty laundry at just the time when it could be the most embarrassing and detrimental to the Jewish state and to the man who came to symbolize its rule of the city, Teddy Kollek. To those people we can only say that damaging Israel’s claim to Jerusalem is far from our in- tention. In making public, for the first time, this record of Israeli rule in east Jerusalem, we believe that lessons learned from past mistakes can help build a better future. This chronicle of political intrigue and personal suffering is often an upsetting story for all involved, includ- ing ourselves; but it is a story still in the making. Hope remains for a just and peaceful ending, and it is with this hope that we have written this book. “And my people shall abide in peaceful habitation, and in secure dwellings, and in a quiet resting place.” isaiah 32:18 1 The Vision and the Reality The Vision and the Reality The Vision and the Reality The Six Day War was still raging. Hours earlier, Jerusalem was taken by the Israeli army. A people whose long history was already filled with miraculous moments was in the midst of an event of bibli- cal proportions. Prime Minister Levy Eshkol prepared to go to the Western Wall—the site of millennia of Jewish longing that had been cut off from the Jewish people since 1948. Before setting out, however, he called together the nation’s chief rabbis and other Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religious leaders, “to share . the news of the events taking place these last few days in Jerusalem, the Holy and Eternal City.”1 “Peace has now returned with our forces in control of all the city and it environs,” Eshkol told the clergymen.2 “You may rest assured that no harm whatsoever shall come to the places sacred to all religions...With the aid of the Rock and Salvation of Israel, from Jeru- salem, a symbol of peace for countless generations, from this Holy City now returned to peace, I would like to have you join me in this call for peace among all the people of this area and of the whole world.” At that moment, it was as if Israel collectively put on rose-colored glasses and turned to view the ancient City of David. Perhaps this was only to be expected. Jerusalem for most Jews was a place seen only from afar, a holy city idealized in prayer and legend. Tradi- tion says King David founded Jerusalem some 3,000 years ago on the slopes of the Kidron Valley. Historically, however, the city’s roots go back even further, with the site first inhabited well be- 6 The Vision and the Reality fore 2,500 bce. For Jews, the city’s history began 1,500 years later, when David conquered a Jebusite fortress and declared it the capital. David built a new walled city that remained in Jewish hands until 578 bce, when the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem and sent the Jews into exile. The city’s history since Babylonian times has been one of repeated conquests, spattered with intervals of peace and even disregard. Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great, Ptolemy Soter, Antiochus Epiphanes, Pompey, the Parthians, Herod, Titus, Hadrian, the Persians, Heraclius, Omar, Saladin, the Mongols, Suleiman the Magnificent, General Henry Allenby—they are among the names of the great leaders who led armies into Jerusalem. The irony of this Who’s Who list of conquerors is that for all the city’s attraction, Jerusalem remained desolate and isolated for most of its history. It was not a major center of trade. It may have had great religious symbolism, but there were many other far greater centers of learning and religious study than Jerusalem. Even as a pil- grim site, the city just did not seem to get it right. Over the years, Christian, Muslim, and Jewish pilgrims from Europe, Africa, and Asia may have come annually in greater and lesser numbers to the city. But that did not keep Jerusalem from remaining an out-of-the- way place.

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